Yeah, my Pyra will be my new phone due to privacy. . .


There are other options, they just don't have as many interested people, for many reasons that I won't bother listing. That pack of users, aka customers, means software people want to use probably won't get official support or releases. That means many of the people that might otherwise be interested will stick with one of the comfortable options that has everything they want (kinda like with the other main class of OSs). Also, a million people isn't a lot if you consider how many will never hear of this alternative OS, at least while it is alive, plus people that can afford the hardware, and so on. Also you need technically proficient people to make the software and work on the OS. Many things have to come together to make it successful.

My question is why aren't people using their phones as phones? Stick to that and you won't have so many problems.
 
I think the problem isn't another phone OS but an open OS and possibly hardware. That is why I'm interested in using my Pyra as a phone, runs debian and I know exactly what is in the hardware. Also not large enough (now) for a company to write a program to spy on Pyra users.
 
I'm happy with my Blackberry Priv.
I did deactivate all Google stuff and don't have games or anything that uses Ads installed.
As long as I don't have crap on my Phone I think it's fine.
How long do you expect kernel holes to be patched for that device. SZ has given us the best part of a decade of patches, and you can always turn to pandebian or hopefully soon LetuxOS if a hole gets discovered after notaz has moved full time to pastures new.
 
Why not use a phone as a phone?

I'd get a flip phone if I wanted that. At least from how I've thought about it, these touch screen devices are mobile computers that have the added feature of making calls. They just aren't in the same clamshell design as the pyra.
 
True. If the Pyra phone ever comes to fruition (a phone chassis supporting the pyra's cpu module) that could be a very worthwhile upgrade for me, assuming the software's usable by then.

Even dumb phones these days are exploitable by flaws that are discovered a lot of the time.
 
Nothing I didn't know (and even mentioned). For your last question is very easy. Is for the same reason people are not using mp3s players anymore. If I have something that can do the same things than a computer (and an mp3, a gps, etc...) why I should have 432890 things intead of 1?
:( I use two mp3 players, one for more widely acceptable stuff in case others have to listen, and another with everything, including the stuff that bothers most people for a variety of reasons. I also have a non-wifi capable ebook leader with e-ink screen. I also still have dedicated hardware for other things (remember when your gaming handhelds only played games?). Maybe Pyra isn't for me. :(
 
This is my main concern with phones. There is no a FUCKING alternative to Android or IOS? I mean, we are 7,442 billion fucking apes on this planet and we have only 2 damn OS? This is annoying as hell. I know a new OS is risky but c'mon, I want to believe that there are at least 1 million people interested on something aside of Android or iOS...

Sailfish OS would be one.
 
Sailfish OS would be one.
It is unfortunately not completely open source and there are not many devices which support it.

I am really missing a QWERTY phone with a Linux OS :/ I have hoped that the Neo900 will be released in a feasible time.
I guess that I am going to try to replace my phone with the Pyra. Since I am mostly using Tapatalk and the browser it should be doable.

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It is unfortunately not completely open source and there are not many devices which support it.

I am really missing a QWERTY phone with a Linux OS :/ I have hoped that the Neo900 will be released in a feasible time.
I guess that I am going to try to replace my phone with the Pyra. Since I am mostly using Tapatalk and the browser it should be doable.

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Even if we are never able to use it for voice and text, I am interested in the Pyra other reasons which rely heavily on the keyboard. Since I am getting the 4G version I will make do with just using data for my mobile communication needs if it comes down to it.

I am wondering if I should order a spare battery to be sure I can get through a day workout charging.
 
It is unfortunately not completely open source and there are not many devices which support it.

I am really missing a QWERTY phone with a Linux OS :/ I have hoped that the Neo900 will be released in a feasible time.
I guess that I am going to try to replace my phone with the Pyra. Since I am mostly using Tapatalk and the browser it should be doable.

Gesendet von meinem SM-N9005 mit Tapatalk

Then I have good news for you. TheKit ported sailfish to the Droid 4. Best keyboard ever. Fast enough. Enough ram. Usable camera. GPS works too.

EDIT: No, it's not 'Secure'. It's less of a target though.
 
Then I have good news for you. TheKit ported sailfish to the Droid 4. Best keyboard ever. Fast enough. Enough ram. Usable camera. GPS works too.

EDIT: No, it's not 'Secure'. It's less of a target though.
Thanks for the hint! I see that there is even a mainlining effort going on. http://elektranox.org/droid4/

I will check whether the Droid 4 is difficult to get!

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Is anyone else thinking of dumping their smart phone and using the Pyra as a phone or some other device because of crap like this?
I wanted to but there was a lot of hostility on this forum to having a camera included and I will still have to carry an extra device because of that.

The lack of camera and having currently no idea if the Pyra will last longer than a few hours on idle with 4G on (your phone needs to be on and connected to receive calls) makes me think I won't be able to replace my phone with the Pyra. This makes me think about taking the non-cellular version actually.

Also onpon4 wrote wise words.
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I'm happy with my Blackberry Priv.
I did deactivate all Google stuff and don't have games or anything that uses Ads installed.
As long as I don't have crap on my Phone I think it's fine.
I was interested in the new Blackberry KeyOne (almost my dream phone) but then learnt that the bootloader is locked. Is your Priv still getting security OS updates ? What will you do with this phone once Blackberry stops to support it ?
I own a LG G2 on the latest Nougat build from LineageOS. It works perfectly even though LG stopped official updates.
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This is my main concern with phones. There is no a FUCKING alternative to Android or IOS? I mean, we are 7,442 billion fucking apes on this planet and we have only 2 damn OS? This is annoying as hell. I know a new OS is risky but c'mon, I want to believe that there are at least 1 million people interested on something aside of Android or iOS...
I like Android. You can use it without Google's apps if you flash Lineage or Replicant. You still have access to a lot of apps outside of the Play Store through F-droid or some github pages. It's an OS where you can choose to remain completely FOSS or use proprietary apps, I like having that choice.
 
I agree with about lineageos comment. It covers most of the topics here.

You can have an installation with as many google services as you want (or not any of them). Security updates oftenly, and longer support than most brands. In this case security will depend on installed apps and drivers that builders refuse to update.

It's not exempt of bugs by the way.
 
I was interested in the new Blackberry KeyOne (almost my dream phone) but then learnt that the bootloader is locked. Is your Priv still getting security OS updates ? What will you do with this phone once Blackberry stops to support it ?
I own a LG G2 on the latest Nougat build from LineageOS. It works perfectly even though LG stopped official updates.
How long do you expect kernel holes to be patched for that device. SZ has given us the best part of a decade of patches, and you can always turn to pandebian or hopefully soon LetuxOS if a hole gets discovered after notaz has moved full time to pastures new.

It's still getting monthly patches.
As it's the only phone with a slide keyboard I could buy at that time it's the only option for me.
 
Perhaps it's my ignorance, but I've had many problems with Android and IOS. I've always wanted a phone with a true Linux OS on it. When I first heard of Android, I read an article about how Google was building a Linux-based OS for smartphones and was very excited at the idea. The resulting OS, however, seems much more IOS-like than Linux-like. IMHO, it's not the Linux I'm looking for if I can't compile a tiny kernel module and modprobe it. It's not the Linux I want if I can't install a GUI I prefer. It's not the Linux I want if I can't drop to console and edit or set things up (swap file, partitioning an SD, etc).

On my Pandora I always have the console open. I activate swap, modprobe my ps3 controller driver, edit text with nano, browse forums with links -g, use IRC with irssi, launch games and programs with pnd_run (or directly with ./) etc. Using CodeBlocks I can even do things like compile and run a bitcoin vanity wallet generator or scanmem.

For me a Pyra would solve all of my issues with smartphones. I would of course have to use a headset or bluetooth device for the actual calling part, but it's the smartphone I dreamt about when I first heard of Android. Being a full Debian install I have absolutely no worries it wont be what I consider truly Linux.

On top of that, it's a full computer as well, with gaming controls and a decent SoC and decent battery life and a full keyboard, able to do what my Pandora does but better. On top of THAT, it's modular, so I can escape the outdated-crap-within-two-years syndrome currently affecting modern smartphones. Basically the Pyra is everything I always wanted when I first understood the concept of a smartphone. A real computer in the pocket that can also do phone stuff.

Also yeah, privacy. No fucking AppStore. No needing an account somewhere in order to get full functionality. I don't trust Google or Apple with personal or financial information and that locks out a LOT of what I could do with my phone.

Beyond all of that, the idea that I'd have to pay Apple money in order to write my own program for my iPhone offends me highly. This modern idea of buying something and not actually owning it is stupid, offensive, counter-productive, and shifty as fuck. If I take a few hours out of my very busy schedule to write a small app that (for example) pops up a notification when my server needs a reboot and lets me hit a button to do so, that's between me and my phone and my network and Apple can keep their greedy fucking hands out of my pockets.

Sorry I didn't mean to turn this into a rant. I just meant to agree wholeheartedly to the OP and explain my extreme distaste for the pieces of money-hungry privacy-invading untrustworthy shit that are Android OS and iOS.
 
I can't find anything about a separat Sailfish Secure OS. Has it just been merged into mainline SOS? Or has it been dropped at some point in time?
How much trust does one have to invest in Jolla to call SOS secure in terms of privacy? It's not all open source, IIRC, is it?

Speaking Android custom ROMs, is Project Treble a godsent or rather a wolf in sheep' clothing? I mean it sounds like easing up the process of producing custom ROMs and developers would only have to compile one release to cater to all devices - did I get that right so far? But isn't it also a way of pulling the actual hardware away from the developers' attention? Though, I have no idea how much the developers implemented hardware access themself to date - hence my question.

Anyone here convincable of porting postmarketOS to the Moto G5? :)
 
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I can't find anything about a separat Sailfish Secure OS. Has it just been merged into mainline SOS? Or has it been dropped at some point in time?
When I came across it i was checking out related articles on Wikipedia. I don't know if it was merged into mainline, but I would think that to be a good idea and don't see any downside (although I don't know the target audience of Sailfish). I think there was also a chart that mentioned it somewhere on some article or linked page, however I lack time to look for that right now. As I understood it, the "secure" version was initially made for a smartphone with specific requirements, so maybe it is maintained by those people, or it died. You got my curiosity up, so maybe I will check it out some time.

My stupid question is why don't those behind mobile OSs try to make the most secure, hardened version of their OS that they can? Wouldn't Google still be able to steal collect sensitive personal info stuff to make the best user experience possible without making every user a gigantic target? Sure, I suppose part of the responsibility lies with the user, and you can't always be sure that those behind that thing you absolutely want on your phone don't have unknown devious intentions, especially if you are unwilling to go with the Apple model. I know that is somewhat contradictory. I figure those smarter than me could make it happen.

My reasoning is that most people have a lot of stuff on their smartphone that they don't want everyone to see, and they may not be thinking about that when they grant permission to the pretty themed text thingy access to their files, which they intend to use to send pics and such to others. They also don't expect it to listen to all their conversations and pick up on things that could be harmful to them if it got out (financial info, for example). If my family is any indication, most people with these devices always have them on them, and use them to do many things that are of a sensitive nature. These should be running an OS that is far more secure than that on their computer (yeah, that is laughable in itself). I don't want to get into specific details, or make guesses about things I don't know, but the things I do know about, know how to do, or have done, are pretty frightening when coupled with the knowledge of the things people use them for. Some of these things can be implemented by default without the user noticing much difference (encrypt everything stored on the device), and other things require small changes that are similar to the inconveniences they are used to dealing with as software changes anyway. Once they get used to doing things a certain way the user complaints will go away. Ultimately Android is a commercial product (I am not going to argue about licensing and shit, you know what I mean), so the default setup intended for smartphones and tablets should be protecting the user. It sucks that I say that, because really this is the type of thing that in other aspects of life I would tend to say the opposite. But, really, users are stupid. They don't know they are stupid. Rather than setting them up to be victims by those other than Google, they should have to go out of their way to do really stupid stuff (ya know, within reason... It is their own fault if they reply all, or drunk dial, or send naked pics to mom instead of Tom).

I don't even know what I am going on about...yeah, I want to use my Pyra as a smartphone, too. It seems like the perfect smartphone for me. With a wired headset, that is. I wish I could send myself one back in the early 90s.
 
Sorry I didn't mean to turn this into a rant. I just meant to agree wholeheartedly to the OP and explain my extreme distaste for the pieces of money-hungry privacy-invading untrustworthy shit that are Android OS and iOS.
Please - rant on. We're all in this together. You forgot a few more bits though.

Having a device that I truly own and can update as long as I want to. No carrier induced obsolescence.

Despite having purchased my phone (not leased), an AT&T Galaxy Note 3, I am not able to acquire my own OS updates. This means that despite the hardware in the phone being perfectly serviceable for any modern application, it is forever stuck at Android 5.0 as the carrier has decided to no longer provide updates - and will not unlock the bootloader to allow me to update it myself. As time marches by the static OS is becoming less and less secure. Frankly, carriers should be legally required to unlock the bootloaders of any phone they sell from the date they are no longer willing to supply OS and security updates.
 
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